Review by Frank Plowright
To British readers, Cinebook following the original French edition’s lead in only crediting Jean Ray on the cover will be puzzling, as while it’s his story being adapted, it shortchanges writers Doug Headline and Luana Vergari and polished artist Onofrio Catacchio. It makes more sense in France where Harry Dickson is a legendary character with almost of a century of publication, and Ray the most famous author connected with his adventures, all explained in the text pages at the end. Mysterion in fact begins Dickson’s third series of graphic novels since the 1980s, and the second series of adaptations, but this is the first to have an English translation.
Dickson is American, but a London resident during the 1930s, and even if the back cover didn’t label him as the American Sherlock Holmes the similarities to Holmes’ background would be obvious. He has an apprentice to assist him, a housekeeper with a personality and he involves himself in impossible mysteries. In this case it’s of the locked room variety concerning a missing person and her also absent riches, and concurrently how a man might return from the dead. Yet that’s not enough for Ray whose plot intriguingly expands to other anomalies, with a hint of the supernatural supplied via an unpublished manuscript proving unnaturally prophetic.
Catacchio’s greatest artistic skill is design. The opening pages feature an extraordinary giant tower eccentrically conceived and constructed by a reclusive author, and Catacchio devises such an incredible structure that the feeling is he’ll be an artist of real substance. Those expectations aren’t entirely met. He’s versatile enough to cope with the anomalies of the story in copiously filled panels, and period detail is convincing, but the people are posed and mannered. It won’t be noticeable to everyone, but he also takes shortcuts in delivering the London Dickson lives in, with trains from Scotland somehow passing Tower Bridge.
As Jean Manchette, co-adapter Doug Headline has a considerable track record, which his collaborator Luana Vergari lacks. This, though, is a smoothly told story, with the use of fantastic elements and a period setting echoing Blake & Mortimer. In both cases, what now seems astute period reconstruction is due to the stories actually being produced in the times they’re set.
The difference between Dickson and Sherlock Holmes is that while both star in extremely cleverly contrived mysteries, on the basis of Mysterion Dickson has no personality or quirks. He’s just there to point a gun if required and to explain the plot. Explain he does, extensively over ten pages toward the end. The solutions fit what’s been revealed, but these aren’t mysteries readers will solve alongside Dickson, and unlike Holmes require considerable suspension of disbelief. However, there’s atmosphere and drama, and while Mysterion tells a complete story, The Court of Terror provides a sequel.
Don’t skip the text pages. It’s worth learning about Jean Ray, about film director Alan Resnais’ quest to track down the person who filled his childhood with adventure, and how that resulted in literary re-appraisal.
